1. Field
Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to the field of air vehicle design and lofting, the creation of surface shapes for varying sectional geometry, and more particularly to a method and apparatus through which an outer mold line (OML) of a Blended Wing Body (BWB) can be automatically designed around a prescribed payload so that the payload is necessarily enclosed and with input parameters like wing sweep, corner point locations, aspect ratio for use in Multidisciplinary Design Optimization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current optimization practices for blended wing body configurations are based on low-fidelity analysis and geometry modules which simplify the vehicles geometric shape. The low fidelity of the geometry restricts the fidelity of the analysis to an equally low level. Higher fidelity analysis tools are then employed to check the accuracy of the model, refinements are made, and the optimization is re-run.
The low-fidelity geometry cannot be used for high order analysis because it passes only approximated surface information. A higher fidelity geometry tool would enable the passing of actual surfaces which can be used in higher order analysis. High-fidelity results using aero, propulsion, performance, mass properties tools are not possible when a low-level lofting tool performs its optimization and can only be applied a posteriori to geometries that are lofted based on the low-level design results. Existing solutions are therefore only adequate to provide and optimize upon low-fidelity analysis results since they do not actually generate a high-quality OML geometry.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system that achieves a higher quality in the geometry generated.
It is further desirable to provide a system where the geometry morphs smoothly as the parameters change, making it well-suited for optimization.